Leader of Honduras’ gay community abducted, murdered

TEGUCIGALPA, Honduras (AP) — A leader in Honduras’ gay community has been buried several days after he was kidnapped and killed in the city of San Pedro Sula.

Rene Martinez, 39, was a city employee working in anti-violence outreach programs and a rising member of the National Party.

The attorney general’s office said in a statement that his body showed signs of having been strangled. No motive for his murder was given.

Martinez’s family said in a statement that assailants kidnapped him on Wednesday after he arrived home, forcing him into a vehicle. Family members alerted police but his body was found two days later in another neighborhood. He was buried on Saturday.

In a statement Friday, the U.S. Embassy in Honduras condemned his murder and called for a thorough investigation.

Joani Garcia, director of the National Forum on AIDS, called Martinez “one of the main defenders of lesbians, gays, transsexuals” in the country.”